The
Memphis trolley system is operated by the local transit agency and currently transports more than 800,000 passengers a
year over three lines radiating from the downtown area. Conceived as part of a plan to resuscitate a
failing pedestrian mall in a fading downtown, the trolley has grown into an
effective transit circulator system. The 2.5 mile Main St. Line line
opened in 1993 and travels the length of Main St., linking the South Main
and Pinch historic districts with numerous downtown attractions. The 2
mile Riverfront Trolley Loop connects together the two ends of the Main
St. Line, primarily using a railroad right-of-way shared with Amtrak. The
2.5 mile Madison Line opened in 2004 and was intended as the starter
line for a future light rail system. Service is offered 7 days a week, and the
base fare is One Dollar, with a lunchtime fare of 50 cents. An all-day
pass is available for $3.50, or a 3-day pass for $8.00.

Main St. Trolley:
This double track line has .8 miles of track on an exclusive
trolley/ pedestrian mall,
with the remainder sharing the street with
traffic. Boarding is at street level, via rather elaborate stations which
project out from the sidewalk. Initial cost was $34.9 Million, $3 million of which was vehicle
costs. Funding was 77.2% Federal, 7.1% State, 7.1% City and 8.6% private.
In 1998, MATA completed its $5.4 Million North End Terminal project,
providing parking and transfer facilities between bus and trolley lines.

Riverfront Trolley Loop:
In 1997, another 2 miles of parallel line (with 6 stations) was opened, primarily on a
double-track railroad right-of-way running along the edge of downtown
close to the Mississippi River. One of the tracks is dedicated to MATA
use, and the other to Amtrak. Riverfront cars operate in a one-way loop,
using the Main St. Line as one leg of the circle. Project cost was
$9.4 Million.

The infrastructure for both the Main St. and
Riverfront lines is
quite impressive. The .8 mile Main St. trolley/pedestrian mall features a track
area covered with paving blocks and sidewalks paved with bricks in
attractive herringbone patterns. A line of reproduction light poles
runs down the middle of the street, also equipped with bracket arms
to support the trolley wire. The tops of many of the poles are also
equipped with lighting units that provide for night-time illumination of
adjacent building facades. The steel and concrete waiting shelters are all built to a
common theme, and present an attractive appearance. Benches, planters,
information kiosks, and other pedestrian- friendly features line the length
of the mall, and there is also a booming horse and buggy business. The "Main Street
Trolley" logo appears on all of the stations on the mall as well as
on the street signs themselves.

Equally impressive is all of the development going
on around the trolley lines. On Main St., a great deal of commercial
development is apparent along the tracks. Although there are still many
vacant storefronts, there are also plenty of rehabilitated historic
buildings as well as significant new construction. Along the Riverfront
line there are great number of new homes in evidence as well as a flurry
of loft conversions underway in some truly incredible historic industrial
buildings. The Memphis
Center City Commission values the current building boom at over $2
billion dollars.

Madison Avenue Line:In
March 2004, MATA opened a 2.5 mile extension on Madison Avenue, connecting the existing downtown system with the Medical Center complex, thus
linking the city's two largest employment centers by rail. The line operates in mixed traffic along Madison Avenue generally on tracks located in the inside travel lanes.
The extension included two major bridge projects. The first was
comprised of two new rail-only bridges at Danny Thomas Blvd. (one on each side of the existing
street bridge) and the second was a reconstruction of the existing bridge at I-240,
with tracks placed on the bridge. The line adds six new stations and a small park-and-ride facility at the eastern
terminus. Five of the six stations are located in the center of the
street, and all feature platform based lifts to accommodate wheelchairs.

The Gomaco Trolley Company won a contract to refurbish
three additional vintage trolleys for use on the line, and to supply one
new replica trolley. An upgrade to light rail vehicles
is planned when the new LRT system comes on
line. The project is proposed as the last segment of the downtown rail
circulation system as well as the first segment of a regional light rail
line.

Total cost of the Madison Avenue Line was $60 million with eighty percent (80%) of the funding
provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the remaining 20% split
between the City of Memphis (10%) and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (10%).

Equipment: Service is
provided with 18 rehabilitated cars imported primarily from Portugal and
Australia, as
well as two replica cars. There are six single-truck cars from
Oporto, Portugal, ten double-truck cars from Melbourne Australia, a single- truck Gomaco replica
car, a double-truck Gomaco replica car, and a double-truck car rebuilt by MATA from a former Rio de Janeiro
open car. Each of the cars is painted in a unique paint scheme.

ADA Accommodations:
The entire system is ADA accessible. The ex-Melbourne cars, with their wide
center section doorways, lend themselves very well to ADA access, which is
accomplished via high-level island platforms on the Riverfront Loop, and
wayside lifts on Main St. and Madison Avenue. In order to accommodate wheelchairs inside the
relatively narrow ex-Oporto cars, a substantial rebuild was required.
The cars had their platforms modified to achieve a level floor inside the car. All cars are equipped with a
steel plate to bridge the gap between the floor and the wayside lift
or platform.

Main
St.

Main
St. Mall, One horsepower meets 200 h.p.

Orepheum
theatre, Main
St. at Beale

Main
St. retains a number of historic storefronts, including the
beautiful Kress building.

Typical
decorative paver treatment along the mall

Junction
with the Madison Ave. Line

One
of the more elaborate station designs along the mall

The
Main St. Line passes directly in front of the Convention Center

Carbarn
in the Pinch District at the north end of Main St.

Melbourne
car on South Main

Oporto car
on South Main. The National Civil Rights Museum is located one
block away.

Melbourne
car departing the south terminus. The Arcade restaurant (where a
young Elvis is said to have eaten) in the background

South end of
the Main St. Line. Railroad station in background. Riverfront Loop
curves off to right.

Photos: John
Smatlak

Riverfront Loop

R-O-W
along the Mississippi River shared with Canadian National and
Amtrak.

Typical
station on the Riverfront Loop.

CN
freight rolls by alongside the trolley line. Two to four trains
use the line each day.

Some
truly striking industrial buildings line the south end of the
Riverfront Loop.

Central
Station stop, just prior to rejoining Main St.

Preparing
to swing onto Main St.

Cruising
through former industrial buildings now adopted for lofts.

This
sign near Central Station announces yet another condo project.

Photos: John
Smatlak

Madison Ave.

Entering
Madison Ave. from Main St.

Along
Madison in the Downtown area.

Another
Downtown shot.

An
eastbound car about to climb the bridge over Danny Thomas Blvd.

About
to crest the top of the bridge.

Station
at Danny Thomas Blvd.

Typical
station in the middle of Madison Ave.

Rolling
along Madison- note the catenary type overhead construction.

Substation
adjacent to the end of the Madison Line.

This
car has just turned back at the end of the line and is about to
enter the Cleveland Station.

Photos: John
Smatlak

News and Updates:

12/22/00:
MATA has advertised for bids on design and manufacture of special
trackwork for the Medical Center Rail Extension Project.

01/01/01:
A
full funding grant agreement for the 2.5-mile, six-station Medical Center
Rail Extension Project was signed by Acting Federal Transit Administrator
Nuria I. Fernandez in Memphis on Dec. 12.The project, expected to cost $74.7 million, will run along Madison
Street between Main and Cleveland and will serve an expanding commercial,
office, and government employment area and a new minor league baseball
stadium.described the trolley as a key link between two of the
city's largest employment centers, downtown and the Medical Center
neighborhood to the east.The
FTA will contribute 80 percent of the cost, or $59.7 million, with the
state and city each providing about $7.5 million.Source- Rail transit Online, January 2001

09/01:
The contract to rebuild MATA's
recently acquired ex-Melbourne cars has been awarded to the Gomaco Trolley
Company, along with an order to build a replica double-truck Birney car.
The replica car is being piggybacked onto Gomaco's order of 8 cars for
Tampa. The Memphis version will be very similar to the Tampa cars, except
that the air conditioning will be omitted, which will mean the
reappearance of the more traditional roof vents. Delivery is anticipated
in late 2002 early 2003. This will be the second Gomaco replica car in
Memphis, joining a single truck car acquired in 1993. Source: Gomaco
Trolley Company

11/01:
Hill Brothers Construction Co. of Falkner, Mississippi, was low bidder for
the contract to build the new Medical Center extension. Hill Brothers’ bid of $23.7 million, one of only two submitted despite nationwide advertising, was significantly lower than Memphis Area Transit Authority's estimate of
$27.6 million. Once the MATA board affirms the contract, the electrical work will be subcontracted to Haines Electric Co., a Memphis firm that outfitted the original trolley line. The trolley may be the first link in a regional light rail system — a feasibility and route study on a corridor connecting downtown with the southeastern suburbs was approved by MATA’s board last January.
Source: Rail Transit On Line

2/7/02:
The Gomaco Trolley Company website has been updated with a comprehensive
set of photos detailing their current rebuild of three former
Melbourne streetcars for Memphis. Well worth a look.

2/13/03:
Main Street Trolley Closes for Upgrades and Expansion. The MATA
website ran the following press release detailing the temporary
closure:

Memphis Area Transit Authority will close the Main Street Trolley™ (Sunday, January 5, through mid-March 2003) in order for special track work to be installed at the intersection of Main Street and Madison Avenue. During this time, a bus shuttle service will operate parallel to Main Street for the convenience of trolley patrons.

Posters will be placed in storefronts and other key points downtown to show the route of the shuttle service, and MATA' website will offer timely updates about trolley developments
(www.matatransit.com). The special track work is part of MATA's Medical Center Rail Extension project, which will extend the trolley system 2.5 miles eastward from Main Street to Cleveland Street. The extension will be completed in early 2004.

During the shutdown of the trolley system, MATA will be busy enhancing the existing trolley line. The Authority will retention the existing system's catenary wires (the overhead power lines) and will retrofit the trolleys for pantographs (devices that will ease reversing the power when the trolley comes to the end of the line). That work will take about 60 days during the period when work on the rail extension is underway. For more information, please call Alison Burton at 901-722-7100.

The
MATA website
is also running a series of items detailing their efforts to mitigate the
impact on local businesses from all the construction activity.

7/17/03
Medical Center Extension Update- The following post on the Light
Rail Transit Memphis discussion group provides a nice update on the
progress towards completing the Medical Center Line:

Construction work should be finished in October, 2003. Remaining work includes :
1) track construction between Dunlap St. and Pauline St., and around the Danny Thomas Blvd.
bridge
2) overhead wire installation throughout the length of the project
3) station construction at six locations
4) construction of the park-and-ride lot near Cleveland St.
5) installation of signal equipment for the Main/Madison intersection
6) re-paving and re-striping of the street between Main St. and Pauline St. (Pauline to Watkins has already been repaved).

Except for track construction, the remaining work should not be very disruptive to the traveling public or businesses on Madison Avenue. In November, MATA will begin testing the system. In early 2004, training of operators will occur. Service will begin on March 16, 2004.

11/03/03
Medical Center Extension Update- The November issue of Rail
Transit Online carried the following report:

The
Medical Center trolley extension is being completed substantially under
budget, according to new figures just released by Memphis Area Transit
Authority General Manager William Hudson.The original budget for construction and acquisition of five
vintage streetcars was $74.6 million but Hudson now says he expects to
finish the project for just $55 million.When asked by The Commercial Appeal what led to the lower costs,Hudson replied, “Good contracts.Good bridge contracts. Good
rail contracts. Equipment
contracts.”He said
MATA’s experience with contractor Hill Brothers Construction of Falkner,
Mississippi, was very positive.“A
lot of good contract negotiations and good people to do business with,”
Hudson told The Commercial Appeal.The 2.5-mi. (4 km), six-station segment from the existing Main
Street line to just beyond Cleveland Avenue was 90-percent completed by
mid-October, and Hudson is forecasting a March opening.On Oct. 15, a ceremony was held marking completion of track
installation as the last two sections of rail were welded together.The trolley may be the first link in a regional light rail system
— MATA is working on plans for a line to Memphis International Airport
— and any money saved during construction of the Medical Center
extension could be applied to future construction (Source: Rail Transit
Online).

In
other Memphis trolley news, production is well along at the Gomaco Trolley
Company on the new replica trolley car ordered by Memphis. Work is also
nearing completion on all three of the Melbourne W-2 type trolleys that
Gomaco is rebuilding for Memphis, with the first car already shipped to
Memphis. Plenty of pictures are available on Gomaco's
website of the whole process.

Medical Center Extension Opens- The April issue of Rail
Transit Online carried the following report:

A two-mile (3.2 km) extension of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s five-mile (8 km) downtown trolley loop opened on Mar. 15. The new link, which cost $56 million, runs along Madison Avenue to the city’s medical center and also serves the new FedEx Forum. The project was completed on time and $19 million under budget. Despite a light rain, several hundred people were on hand for the ceremonial first run of car No. 453, which broke through a banner and carried elected officials and other VIPs from Cleveland Station to downtown. “We're not building this just for tourists,” said MATA president William Hudson. “We're building it for all of us.” The celebration also included a week of free rides on the entire trolley network. MATA expects weekday ridership on the extension to increase from 2,100 this year to 4,200 by 2020.
Source: Rail Transit On Line April 2004

December 2004 Updates- The APTA Vintage
Trolley & Streetcar Task Force concluded its year-end meeting
with a visit to Memphis on December 5. MATA staff gave a
presentation which included a system history and a review of the
construction of the Madison Avenue extension. The presentation was
followed by a tour of the system on board MATA's new Gomaco replica
car.

In addition to the new trolley
line, it was obvious that major development work has also come to
fruition around the trolley line over the last few years. The area
around the southern end of the Main St. / Riverfront Lines
continues to sprout new housing and loft conversions.The Beale
Street entertainment district now features a new baseball stadium
(AutoZone Park), a major new sporting arena (the Fed Ex Forum, the
new home of Memphis' NBA team), and a major new entertainment
complex in the form of Peabody Place.

Northern end
of the Main St. line

Preparing
to turn off of Main and onto the Riverfront Loop

Pyramid
Interlocking, where the Riverfront Loop crosses Amtrak.

Along the
Riverfront Loop

Riverfront
Loop, the Memphis Pyramid in the background.

At
the southern end of the Riverfront Loop, the trolleys pass the
driveways of many new homes

Danny Thomas
Blvd. Station on the new Madison Ave. line.

Photos: John
Smatlak

December
2010 Update-The Madison Ave. line has been closed
since September 13, with buses substituted for the streetcars. Click
here for a related story.